


The Apple Tree

by Invented2010



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Bittersweet, F/F, Love never dies, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-07 21:06:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Invented2010/pseuds/Invented2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A love story in simple words that's anything but.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Thought It Was Over

During the summer of ’89, Clarke got into a scuffle with Lexa under an apple tree. Lexa broke Clarke’s nose, and Clarke sent Lexa home with a black eye.

 

One mom rang the other who lived mere blocks away, but the telephone wires only communicated static and heat even during the dead cold night when the lines weren’t busy.

 

Clarke and Lexa met under the same apple tree again, but this time, Lexa came home with a bloody nose and Clarke cried so much that her eyes swelled up like water balloons.

 

They keep meeting under the same apple tree, and those angry midnight calls continue to traverse the telephone line like a busy two way street.

 

Until one day, Clarke sends Lexa home with a kiss, and Lexa punches Clarke right in the heart. She nearly suffers a myocardial infarction.

 

Three summers and two growth spurts later, no one’s hitting anyone. Instead, they just sit underneath that tired, old apple tree with their fingers interlocked like those annoying love bugs attached to each other.

 

When Clarke turns eighteen, Lexa promises her the best birthday ever. Clarke promises Lexa all of herself.

 

Six months later, college splits them up. Clarke is in New York and Lexa is somewhere on the opposite side of the country. It snows for Clarke but rains for Lexa. No one pays visits to the apple tree anymore, and Clarke and Lexa start kissing other people.

 

But Clarke phones Lexa one night to tell her that she misses her the same way she misses that apple tree, and it’s difficult to keep a drunk from spilling her guts out to a former love like that. But a Katie answers, and Clarke’s heart shatters into a million pieces that’s audible even three thousand miles away.

 

And that was supposed to be the end of it because young love is fragile like glass, but the law of conservation of mass states that matter is neither created nor destroyed. Clarke and Lexa are still there, even in their broken form. And that love can break, melt, solidify or explode, but it will never disappear.

 

 

8 years 5 days and some hangovers later, Clarke wants to get married - the kind of married that involves a ring and vow and not a pet and Netflix. Her betrothed looks good in a tux, and he gives her butterflies even though he’s a lawyer and not a scientist.

 

“Come meet me at my office at one so that we can go to lunch together?”

 

Clarke agrees because no one turns away food, even if the restaurant is a little bit pretentious and the server’s English accent is totally faked.

 

She steps into a box that will bring her up 23 floors too many, but she might as well have stepped into the past because Lexa is there. No, not under that apple tree, but under that white light and elevator music. Clarke doesn’t remember Lexa ever wearing glasses. Lexa doesn’t remember Clarke ever stopped looking so beautiful. The stolen glances and heated kisses of the past hang in the air of the elevator as they hang a thousand feet in the air above New York City.

 

“Hi Clarke, it’s nice to see you again.”

 

“Hi Lexa. I thought you were in California.”

 

“I moved.”

 

They’re so cordial to each other, almost friendly. And friendship is what makes the world go round. It cures poverty and solves world hunger.

 

“What brings you to New York City?”

 

“I took a job at a law firm here.”

 

They step out at the same time on the same floor, and realization dawns on Clarke like a wrecking ball. Yes, it came in like a wrecking ball.

 

“You’re working at Lawson and Becker now?”

“Yes. Are you telling me that…”

 

“Clarke! Sweetie, I didn’t expect you to be here so early.”

 

Her betrothed gives her a kiss on the cheek, and Lexa doesn’t care at all. He is all grey suit and slick hair while she is Lexa and Clarke is Clarke.

 

“Oh, hi Lexa. I see the two of you have met. Clarke, Lexa is our new defense attorney.”

 

Clarke doesn’t tell him that she knew that Lexa was going to be a lawyer before he even knew she was going to work there. Lexa doesn’t tell him either. The past is not worth digging up for small talk, especially if that past was buried deep into the ground underneath an apple tree.

 

“Clarke is my fiancé. You’ll be seeing a lot of her around here as we tend to grab lunch together a lot.”

 

“That’s nice.”

 

They part with his hand on the small of Clarke’s back, guiding her back into the elevator. She focuses on her betrothed’s right ear because it’s easier that way. Lexa tells herself that it doesn’t bother her because it's been years since she's thought about that apple tree.


	2. Invisible Wall

“It’ll be easier for him to take time off for our honeymoon now that the firm’s hired a new defense attorney.”

 

“Who is this knight in shining armor? I must thank him for sweeping in and helping out my future son in law.”

 

“It’s actually a her.”

 

She. Female. Woman. Girl who broke her nose when they were ten years old.

 

“And it’s Lexa, by the way.”

 

“Clarke…”

 

“Look mom, I have to go. Raven’s here.”

 

Clarke closed the call and effectively closed all discussion about why she hasn’t brought up that one person’s name in over 8 years to her mom.

 

“Who’s Lexa?”

 

“What?”

 

“I overheard you telling the person on the phone that ‘it’s Lexa’.”

 

Lexa was her summers spent outside under the sun. Her first fight. Her cherry lips and happy tears. Lexa was a person in the past.

 

“Oh, she’s no one important.”

 

“Okay…”

 

Raven looks like she doesn’t believe her. And it’s a damn shame because Clarke believes it with every remaining piece of her heart that doesn’t know what sweet apples smell like during the summer.

 

“Anyway, do you want to have dinner with me tonight?”

 

“Sorry, I can’t. I’m the plus one for a party hosted by the law firm tonight.”

 

“Say no more. He put a ring on it. Guess this best friend should have done that first to secure Clarke Griffin’s company.”

 

 

The party was like every other party hosted by a fancy, schmancy law firm in New York City. Champagne glasses and expensive dresses.

 

“You look lovely tonight, Clarke.”

 

“Thanks. You’re looking quite handsome yourself.”

 

Clarke winks at her betrothed and says really nice things because it’s easier that way.

 

They drink and laugh and drink and laugh some more until Clarke doesn’t want to do that anymore. She takes a seat at a table near the window, and Lexa takes a seat near her.

 

“Oh hi, Clarke. I didn’t see you here.”

 

“Hi, Lexa.”

 

They don’t talk after that because they have nothing left to say to each other. Just awkward shifts in the chair and really dry throats. It must be the alcohol.

 

Lexa gets up to leave, and Clarke looks straight ahead because there is absolutely no point in looking back to the past.

 

 

The party goes on and Clarke goes to fix her makeup. She dials Raven’s number from the restroom because that’s what girls do when they need to talk to their best friend.

 

“Raven, I need to tell you something.”

 

But Clarke chickens out and ends the call because she doesn’t have a shovel and courage large enough to dig up that past.

 

Lexa is in the bathroom stall with a heavy heart. Clarke is on the other side reapplying her makeup and that happiness.

 

She faces Clarke. A wall stands between them, but Lexa is finally able to look in her direction for the first time in four days without feeling like someone’s stripping her layers off one by one.

 

She traces some letters and lines on the wall with her finger, perhaps a message she wanted to give to Clarke at the table earlier. But no one besides herself knows what words were spelled out. Perhaps it is for the best that her message remains invisible on the wall that divides the two of them.

 


	3. The Universe

“Clarke, I have a favor to ask.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Lexa is relatively new to the city, so she doesn’t really know anyone here. Would you mind inviting her to your bachelorette party? You know, introduce her to Raven and the girls.”

 

“No!”

 

“What?”

 

“I mean, I don’t think she would be up for it. We…barely said three words to each other since she started working here.”

 

“That’s why this would be a good opportunity for the two of you to get to know each other.”

 

Clarke laughed bitterly to herself. She used to know every inch of Lexa better than anyone else. She _used_ to be that person to her.

 

“Hey Lexa! We were just talking about you.”

 

They all step into the elevator together to leave the party. He rattles on and on to her about how great Clarke is for 23 floors before they step out into the lobby. The blood drains from Clarke’s face, and the absurdity of it all makes Lexa’s head spin.

 

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was some secret, pathetic desire to spend more time with Clarke. Or maybe it was a sign that she was really losing her mind.

 

“Sure, I would love to attend Clarke’s bachelorette party.”

 

 

 

 

“I thought you said that Lexa was no one important.”

 

“She’s not.”

 

But Raven doesn’t need anyone to convince her otherwise. She sees it all throughout their evening. The way Clarke stiffens up when Lexa laughs. How they naturally fall into step when neither has uttered a single word to each other for hours. Or when Clarke speaks to Octavia but her feet are facing a certain bespectacled guest the entire time.

 

They drink a lot of alcohol that night. To celebrate Clarke’s last few days of freedom. Or to drown their souls in the irony and hopelessness of the situation, Clarke isn’t sure.

 

Raven and Octavia are passed out on the bed of the hotel room, and the three other girls are passed out in the bathroom.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Clarke slides down beside Lexa on the floor. Their backs against the wall and beating hearts beside each other.

 

“Yeah---definitely. I just had a little bit too much to drink.”

 

Too much to drink. Too much left unsaid.

 

Clarke stares ahead for a long time before there’s nothing ahead to stare at anymore.

 

She holds back tears like the fragile way she’s been holding onto her sanity.

 

“The night of your birthday, freshman year….I called. I called because, even in my drunken haze, you were the only thing that still made sense. It was never over for me.”

 

The memory finally materializes into words and sound. Clarke needed the universe to know that she did try to fight for the green eyed girl and their apple tree.

 

But Lexa is asleep when Clarke looks at her. The words that Clarke’s been holding onto for 8 years are floating in the air around them, and all Lexa has to do is open her eyes to catch them. But she doesn’t.

 

So Clarke silently recalls those words and seals them back in the box somewhere in the deep corner of her mind. The universe may lend its ear to her, but all is pointless when the only person that matters is not awake to hear those words herself.

 

Clarke finally allows those tears to fall because she realizes that it might actually be over for them this time.


	4. First Aid

They’re such a tangled mess on the floor that Clarke isn’t sure which leg or arm is hers anymore. But she’s sure that it’s Lexa’s sleeping body that she’s wrapped up in. So she does what she was supposed to do eight years ago: she disentangles herself from Lexa.

 

It’s barely 7AM when she looks at the alarm clock. Clarke tries to use the restroom, but two girls are cuddling in the bathtub in their sleep, and the other is passed out on the toilet. Clarke will just have to wait.

 

She nearly suffers an embarrassing accident as she walks out and a closet door comes flying at her face.

 

“Fuck!”

 

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry Clarke.”

 

Lexa is all apologetic and cute. She’s slightly blind too as her glasses are still on the floor, and she’s squinting at Clarke.

 

“I was looking for a sweater because I got cold.”

 

It’s no coincidence that it happens after Clarke leaves her. But Clarke isn’t about to dwell on that kind of heart aching moment that will get them nowhere when her nose is in throbbing pain. She checks the mirror on the closet door and sees a cut on the bridge of her nose.

 

Lexa is out the door and back with a borrowed first aid kit from the maid service before Clarke knows it.

 

She’s made sure to put her glasses on before she treats the cut on Clarke’s nose. But Clarke doesn’t care if Lexa has her glasses on or not. Really, she no longer cared about the stupid cut now that Lexa was finally looking at her, _really_ looking her, for the first time in 10 days.

 

Lexa is a little bit too careful treating that cut. She lingers there for a while, hoping that it wouldn’t leave a scar on Clarke’s perfect face. And then she absentmindedly traces a finger down the bridge of her nose where she feels where she broke Clarke’s nose 17 years ago under that apple tree. Perfect.

 

And then Raven wakes up. She’s so loud and disruptive that she breaks whatever spell casted on the two occupants in that hotel room.

 

 

 

“You want to tell me what’s going on between you and four eyes?”

 

Raven is her usual aggressive self. But Clarke doesn’t relent.

 

“I heard what you tried to tell her last night.”

 

So the universe and Raven heard, but Lexa did not. Clarke tries to play dumb, and it’s perhaps the dumbest thing to do because Raven Reyes is not dumb.

 

Still, that doesn’t stop Clarke.

 

The deflection goes on for a week.

 

“Should I just get you drunk for you to spill?”

 

“Depends. Will you be awake when I start pouring my heart out to you?”

 

Raven levels a sympathetic look her way, and Clarke hates it. She doesn’t need sympathy. She doesn’t need a first aid kit. She just needs the person who ran out to grab that first aid kit because she can’t help but keep injuring Clarke’s nose.


	5. Flavored Gum

Clarke wishes that Raven would stop flirting with the waiter for more free bread from the kitchen. The two older women at the next table are definitely whispering about them and “that kind of profession” that they’re sure Clarke and Raven were involved in.

 

“Will you stop it? I would like to have dinner with my mom before we’re arrested on suspicion of solicitation.”

 

“Calm down Griffin. We’ll be done with our dinner before the cops get here.”

 

Clarke wasn’t sure why she had invited Raven to dinner with her mother. Right, she invited herself.

 

“Ms. Griffin! Over here!”

 

Raven waved over a woman who looks like she’s just walked out of a day spa more than she had just spent six hours in the car getting here.

 

They kiss and hug before settling down at their table again.

 

“Clarke, honey, you look like you got into a bar fight.”

 

She touches the bridge of her own nose to show Clarke exactly what she’s referring to as if Clarke hasn’t looked in the mirror the past week.

 

“Lexa did it!” Raven is a little bit too enthusiastic about that piece of information, and Clarke’s mom is a little too obvious.

 

“Again?”

 

“Again? What? She’s done this before?”

 

 

 

 

 

Clarke and her mom run into Lexa at the entrance of the tower of Lawson and Becker the next day.

 

“Hi Lexa, it’s been awhile.”

 

She explains that she just got in town yesterday, but she doesn’t explain why she’s in town. They all know why.

 

Her mom looks between the two of them.

 

Clarke kicks the dirt idly while Lexa slips both hands in her pants pockets. They look like their former selves being scolded by an adult for fighting underneath that apple tree again. But this time, there are a few more wrinkles on her mom’s forehead and a mountain of misunderstanding between her and Lexa.

 

She is left to ride the elevator alone with Lexa after her mom darts off to a hair appointment.

 

Eight more floors to go.

 

Seven.

 

Six.

 

Then the elevator decides to shut down on the 17th floor and trap the both of them in darkness.

 

Clarke talks into the emergency phone, but the person on the other end doesn’t sound equally concerned.

 

Lexa is the first one to break the silence.

 

“What have you been up to these days?”

 

“I actually own my own gallery. I’m an artist.”

 

“That’s great. I had no doubt that you would achieve your dream of opening a gallery one day. You were the most talented person I knew.”

 

“And you were the most stubborn person I knew. I had no doubt that you would become a lawyer.”

 

They both laugh, and it’s so beautiful and bittersweet. Eight years, and it takes a broken elevator and utter darkness for them to actually communicate with each other.

 

“Gum?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“I only have one piece though.”

 

“Oh….well I’ll pass. I don’t want to take away your last piece of gum. Who knows how long we’ll be trapped in here for. The maintenance guy sounded drunk. That gum might be our last food source.”

 

They both laugh again, and Clarke is afraid that she might get used to it.

 

“I was actually going to offer you half of my gum, Clarke.”

 

She remembers that Lexa was always good at sharing. Some things never change.

 

So Clarke gropes around in the dark to find that blasted half piece of gum but ends up knocking the glasses off Lexa’s face instead.

 

“It’s okay. It wasn’t like they were helping me see right now.”

 

They eventually get their share of the gum, and neither can get the flavor of it right. Sweet. Tangy. Laughter.

 

The light of the elevator cuts back on and this leads the both of them to jump to their feet. Clarke spies the pair of glasses on the floor and slips back down to grab them for Lexa. There’s a fingerprint smudge on one of the lens undoubtedly belonging to Clarke. She takes the end of her shirt to wipe it clean.

 

“I found your glasses for you.”

 

Lexa stares down at the cheerful girl on bended knee, and a wave of emotions wash over her. Some things never change.

 

Clarke is helped to her feet, and she exchanges a pair of glasses for a smile from Lexa like the exchanging of vows.

 

The elevator door slides open and it looks like they’ve arrived at floor 23.

 

 

 

Three days later, the entire city is caught under a rainstorm. He and Clarke share an umbrella as they wait for the valet to retrieve their car.

 

“Do you want some gum?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Clarke unwraps the plastic from a pack that she’s sure is the same kind Lexa buys. He looks confused when Clarke hands him half a piece of her gum and stores the rest of the pack away. Clarke is equally confused when she bites into her half and the flavor doesn’t taste the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are able to recognize the bow scene in this chapter. :D


	6. Empty Canvas

“I’m telling you. I’m never watching that stupid show again. These writers don’t know what they’re doing.”

 

Raven is her usual, loud self, and the college kids camped out at the café were just treated to an ear full of her gripe with some poorly made, low budget TV show.

 

“Oh, crap.”

 

“What now?”

 

“Your 3 o’clock. Lexa with a hot girl.”

 

Clarke hated when Raven was right.

 

“I...it’s none of our business.”

 

She tries to focus on the swirl in her cup of coffee instead of that sinking feeling in her stomach.

 

“You’re right. It’s none of _our_ business. But it’s definitely your---. Shit. Lexa just spotted us. Now you have to go over there to say hi.”

 

“What?! Why me?”

 

“Because I have a phone call to make.”

 

Clarke begrudgingly walks over to Lexa and her companion while Raven is heard making a phone call to Octavia in the background.

 

_The plot thickens! There is a hot girlfriend involved._

The last thing Clarke hears is some unintelligible noise coming from Raven’s phone, most likely Octavia’s scolding Raven to mind her own business, before Lexa’s smile starts to drown out her senses.

 

“Hi, Clarke.”

 

“Lexa.”

 

“This is Katie.”

 

 _Katie_. She hopes it isn’t the same Katie from eight years ago that answered her call.

 

Eight years. They’ve probably formed a ton of memories during those eight years together. Clarke wonders if memories work like videocassettes. When there is no more space left, one starts recording over the last thing. Suddenly, her picture of their apple tree doesn’t seem so tall and mighty anymore.

 

“So how do you two know each other?”

 

“Oh, Lexa and I go way back to college.”

 

She wraps her arm around Lexa’s and smiles at her. Clarke suddenly doesn’t know what to do with her hands.

 

“Hey Lexa!”

 

Raven’s now by her side. She’s a lot more effective with the small talk than Clarke is.

 

By the end of the conversation, Raven has Katie wrapped around her maniacal finger, but Lexa seems immune to Raven’s charm. Instead, she seems to be absorbed in someone else’s presence.

 

“So Clarke’s gallery has a show tonight. You two should stop by.”

 

 

 

Their drive home is marked with silence as Clarke doesn’t know how to convey to Raven why she’s feeling so vulnerable.

 

“Raven…I’m not sure about having Lexa and Katie come---“

 

“Clarke…I understand. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

 

Clarke looks to Raven to question her motive, but a loud horn interrupts them.

 

“Keep your eyes on the road, Griffin.”

 

 

 

 

The art show carries on smoothly until Lexa walks in with Katie.

 

Clarke wants to hide behind some large sculptures and paintings, but Raven was not going to have it.

 

“Hey Lexa! Katie! Glad you guys were able to make it.”

 

She shoves her glass of champagne into Lexa’s hand and guides Katie away to see a painting.

 

Clarke and Lexa are left standing there.

 

“I’m sorry about Raven. She’s a little bit…aggressive.”

 

“It’s okay. I actually really like her.”

 

They finally move away from their awkward conversation to an actual painting. But neither is invested in the discussion about art as they’re both distracted by their own mental musings. Lexa wonders if Clarke’s hair has always been that blonde. Clarke thinks Lexa might just have the cutest ears she’s ever seen.

 

Then someone bumps into Lexa from behind and the contents of Raven’s champagne glass splashes across the floor.

 

“There’s a mop in the back. Let me go grab it and clean up the mess before someone slips and falls.”

 

Lexa goes with her.

 

They don’t find the mop, but they do find a couple groping each other against one of Clarke’s empty canvases.

 

Clarke pulls Lexa against a wall and out of the view of who Clarke believes are her unsuspecting patrons engrossed in a heated moment.

 

“I’m going to have to burn that canvas. Those things cost a lot too.”

 

Lexa laughs, and this startles the couple.

 

Clarke raises a finger before Lexa to tell her to keep quiet. She pokes her head out just far enough to see that the couple is now leaving.

 

“Okay, they’re gone.”

 

But Lexa can’t help but lean forward two inches to press a gentle kiss on the pad of Clarke’s finger.

 

 _8 years._ They haven’t seen each other in eight years. Clarke got engaged during that time, and Lexa’s moved on to someone else. They can’t act like nothing’s changed. Lexa can still go around injuring Clarke’s nose, but they can’t kiss each other like they belong to each other anymore…because they don’t.

 

Clarke chokes back tears. “Don’t..don’t do that.”

 

Lexa suddenly realizes that they’re not standing underneath that apple tree anymore.

 

“I’m sorry. I…”

 

“Clarke, honey, are you back here?”

 

Lexa departs upon the sound of a familiar voice. Clarke watches as concern sweeps across her mom’s face as Lexa dashes past her. Then she slowly walks into her mom’s arms and digs her head deep into her shoulder and sobs.

 

The last time she’s done this, she was ten years old and Lexa was the one responsible for her tears. Some things never change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, guys, I teared up writing the end of this chapter because I felt for Clarke so much...


	7. Detachment

5 days.

 

She stares down at the sparkling rock on her finger. She has five days before it’s officially over for them. 

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

 

“I’m sure.”

 

Clarke turns around to enter the departure gate, but Raven pulls her back into a tight embrace.

 

“You don’t have to do this, Clarke. If you want, there are a few people that I know that could easily make Katie disappear.”

 

Clarke laughs. She doesn’t doubt that, but she suspected that Raven liked Katie far too much to ever resort to such a thing.

 

So she hops on a plane to visit that apple tree one last time before she forgets about it forever. 

 

Clarke’s looking at clouds one second and then the bright lights of the operating table in the Emergency Room the next.

 

“Retinal detachment. The taxi collided with another vehicle just a mile out of the airport, and the whiplash from the accident caused her retinas to detach. We’ve performed the surgery to reattach them so she should regain her vision, slowly but surely.”

 

Lexa was standing in her office overlooking the busy streets of New York one second and then in the Emergency Room staring at the vending machine in this small town the next.

 

Clarke called her before she called anyone else.

 

 

 

 

 

The surgery only lasts a few hours, and Clarke doesn’t have to stay overnight.

 

“How long do you have to wear the bandages over your eyes for?”

 

Clarke reaches up to lightly touch the gauze with her fingertips. Lexa kissed her there only a few days ago. 

 

“Not too long. I’m actually having them removed tomorrow.”

 

"That's good news."

 

Lexa's hands grip the steering wheel nervously. 

 

“I’m...surprised that you called me.”

 

“I’m surprised that you came.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t know. We haven’t kept in touch over the years and…”

 

“I still care about you, Clarke. You’re...my best friend.”

 

Somehow, it’s easier to say those words to Clarke when she's unable to see her.

 

“Really?”

 

“Do you question that?”

 

Clarke stays silent because she’s not sure how to answer that question.

 

“You don’t believe me? I’ll show you.”

 

 

 

 

Clarke isn’t sure how Lexa is supposed to show her anything when she has three layers of gauze in front of her eyes.

 

“Where are we?”

 

“You have to use your other senses Griffin.”

 

Clarke laughs at Lexa’s tone. It’s been awhile since things were this light between them.

 

“What do you hear?”

 

Clarke listens carefully.

 

“Leaves.”

 

“Okay. What do you smell?”

 

Clarke takes a deep breath, and that familiar scent fills her nostrils. How could she miss that wonderful smell that’s filled many of her summers? Her face cracks into a silly grin at the vivid image from her memory.

 

“Apples.”

 

They look like their former selves underneath the apple tree. Clarke is still smiling at Lexa in that sweet way, and Lexa is still staring at her like she's the first girl she's ever met. 

 

“Now, what do you feel?”

 

Clarke is a little confused at first.

 

“The air?”

 

But then she feels a light touch on her lips, maybe lighter than air. It’s so gentle that one might say that it’s almost microscopic in nature. Still, Clarke knows that it’s there and that it’s Lexa. She finally admits to herself that Lexa was always there to her, whether as a loud ten year old painting her summers in wild colors and bold strokes or as a memory keeping her afloat for eight years.

 

Her shaking hands reach up to feel for Lexa’s face and find that nothing’s changed. Lexa is still Lexa, and she is still Clarke. And that apple tree is still theirs.

 

And this time, she returns Lexa’s gentle kiss with her own, hoping that she's filled Lexa’s world with that same amount of happiness that Lexa has been filling hers since they were ten years old.

 

 

 

 

 

“Your vision will be blurry at first, but things will improve over time. After about two weeks, you should be able to go back to work. And I’m optimistic that your vision will fully recover after a few months. No strenuous activity the first few weeks, and no flying for the next few months.”

 

She relays the doctor’s orders to her mom who got there a day after Lexa did. Her betrothed is still in New York.

 

“Thanks mom, but you don’t have to drive me back to New York. I think I might be able to find a way back on my own.”

 

Clarke smiles at Lexa or a very blurry version of Lexa now that the gauze was taken off.

 

Lexa speaks up once Clarke’s mom is out of the room.

 

“You should have your mom drive you back to New York.”

 

Clarke’s now able to make out Lexa’s frown even in the blur.

 

“I…was hoping that we could drive back together, Lexa.”

 

“Clarke, I don’t think that it would be the best thing to do.”

 

She gives some lame excuse about having to be back at work in two days, but the distance that she’s keeping between the two of them says otherwise.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Clarke reaches out to Lexa to try to close that distance, the one that she thought they had overcome after eight years, but Lexa just backs away.

 

So Clarke backs away.

 

The following day, she’s on the road, moving at 70 miles per hour. Lexa is somewhere in the air going ten times that speed. Maybe she has always been out of her reach. Clarke should have known that the sky and the ground were never meant to unite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooo! One more chapter! I'll be honest, guys. I initially started this fic because I had a bunch of ramblings in my head that I wanted to get down on paper. It wasn't supposed to be anything serious, but the characters and their storyline quickly endeared themselves to me. 
> 
> I can't wait for you to read the last chapter. It will be up tomorrow. I hope that it leaves you with a smile the same way it left me with a smile when I wrote it.


	8. Dialogue

Clarke returns to New York a few days after Lexa does. There’s no opportunity for their paths to cross because Clarke is holed up in her apartment for two weeks while the wedding is pushed back a month until her vision partially recovers. She isn’t allowed to ride 23 floors up there - doctor’s orders. Stay away from high altitudes. Stay away from those that will only break your heart. Something like that.

 

Her betrothed pulls out all of the stops to make her recovery especially comfortable to compensate for his absence in the Emergency Room after the accident.

 

“Why did you take a flight back to your hometown all of a sudden?”

 

He brushes a thumb across the backside of her hand affectionately.

 

Clarke fiddles with the end of her shirt with her other hand, unsure of how much to reveal.

 

“I…wanted to revisit a childhood memory before we got married.”

 

She doesn’t tell him about the apple tree, but what she tells him is still the truth. And he deserves it.

 

“I understand. It feels surreal - how far we’ve come from being kids to getting engaged. So I understand why you were feeling nostalgic and wanting to revisit those childhood memories.”

 

He kisses her wrist and the hairs on his chin are a little too prickly.

 

“But I promise you that, once we’re married, we’ll make memories of our own that are equally wonderful and sacred.”

 

The thought of that scares Clarke a little bit. So she leans in to press a kiss on his lips, hoping that the embrace would wipe away her own fears. It doesn’t.

 

He smiles at her like everything is fine.

 

“Will you be upset with me if I tell you that we won’t be seeing a lot of each other the next few days?”

 

“Hm? I thought your workload decreased with…”

 

Clarke realizes that she hasn’t once said Lexa’s name during the two weeks since she’s been back.

 

“Lexa took a week off for some kind of personal issue.”

 

 

 

 

 

During the time that Lexa was away, Clarke learns that their apple tree was cut down.

 

She finally tells Raven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Think about it like this – she’ll never find anyone as hot as you.”

 

Clarke laughs and Raven reaches across the couch and gives her hand a gentle squeeze.

 

A knock comes at the door.

 

“Pizza. I’ll get it.”

 

She jumps off the couch to answer it, but it’s not the pizza guy. It’s just Lexa.

 

Raven’s eyes widen as she look between the two of them.

 

“Hi Clarke.” Lexa calls from the doorway.

 

Clarke doesn’t say a thing. She just stares at her. This flusters Lexa a little. Good.

 

Lexa then diverts her gaze to Raven for a second, and Raven does something Clarke’s never seen her do before – she leaves the room to mind her own business. The one time she needed Raven to be Raven.

 

 

“You look good.”

 

Clarke finally speaks, and it’s hard to hide the bitterness. “Thanks?”

 

“Is your vision better?”

 

“It is.”

 

Lexa is still standing in the doorway because Clarke hasn’t invited her in yet. Clarke speaks again.

 

“Why are you here, Lexa?”

 

“Like I said, I wanted to check on you…”

 

She interrupts her. “And like I said, my vision is better now.”

 

She gets up to try to close the door on Lexa. On them.

 

“I’ve missed you.”

 

Clarke’s grip freezes on the handle.

 

“No, you don’t get to say that to me, Lexa. It’s not fair to me. You can’t show up at my apartment in the middle of the night to tell me that you’ve missed me during those three weeks when you were the one that chose to push me away.”

 

”Clarke, it’s not just these past three weeks. I’ve missed you everyday for the past eight years.”

 

Clarke looks at Lexa and asks her heart-achingly, “Why didn’t you call me if you missed me?”

 

“I don’t know. There was a lot of deflecting and blaming going on during that time. And even after we met again eight years later, we still couldn’t communicate with each other.”

 

“So you kiss me and leave. How does that resolve the issue?”

 

“I wanted to talk to you the way we should have talked eight years ago. Not over the phone. Not in the dark inside a broken elevator. Not when you could only see blurs of me. I wanted to do it right because I think we deserve it.”

 

Clarke realized that Lexa was right. All of their conversations thus far have been frustrating at best.

 

“But I complicated matters when I kissed you because…that apple tree does things to me.”

 

“But our apple tree is gone now. They cut it down.” Clarke looks away from Lexa, trying to blink away the tears.

 

“It’s not.”

 

She snaps her head back to look at Lexa.

 

“When I flew there to try to stop them, I arrived too late and only found a tiny tree stump where our apple tree used to stand. I thought it was over myself, but as I sat there going over my memories, I realized that they were still very lucid and clear. Every single feeling I’ve ever felt underneath that apple tree was still there. The happiness. The laughter. The love. Everything was still there because everything was linked to you.”

 

She fiddles nervously with the end of her shirt.

 

“Clarke…you’re my apple tree.”

 

The words drip out into universe, and they’re finally both awake to witness them. Eight years, but it’s finally happened.

 

“And…the thing is…I…you…forever”

 

Clarke tries to interrupt Lexa’s adorable rambling because she wants to tell Lexa about her own apple tree. “Lexa...”

 

But Lexa raises a finger before Clarke and shuts her up like she’s done numerous times before underneath their apple tree when they were ten.

 

“Shhh! Griffin, I’m trying to tell you something!”

 

Clarke’s heart swells with that same feeling she’s always felt when she stands in front of the green-eyed girl. She lets out a soft laugh and just leans in to press a gentle kiss on the pad of Lexa’s finger. Some things never change.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the end, friends! There are a few things that I want to discuss here. First, it's the ineffective communication between Clarke and Lexa that was really the root of their heart ache and separation. I've alluded to this several times throughout the story, e.g. the wall between them in the restroom, the darkness in the elevator, and Clarke's temporary vision impairment. I wanted to tell their story honestly, and that involves them learning from their mistakes and trying to fix their problems. So I had to set it up to where Lexa backs away from Clarke after the kiss because she wanted to fix their problems instead of diving back in with her fingers crossed that things will be okay. 
> 
> I don't know about you, but I think it's romantic that Lexa wanted to wait until Clarke was fully able to see her again before she spilled her heart out to her. As much as she was afraid of the confrontation, she really did believe that they deserved it. 
> 
> There's a lot of figurative language that I try to instill into the story, but the most important one involves the apple tree. It might not be there in the flesh anymore by the end of the story, but we all know that it still exists to Clarke and Lexa because their love is the apple tree. And love can't be physically sawed off :D. 
> 
> Love never dies even if its physical form isn't there anymore. I hope all of you that were hurt by the show take comfort in that knowledge.
> 
> Finally, I just want to conclude by saying that I hope everyone who's reading is able to find their own apple tree one day. :D


End file.
